Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has welcomed a court action against the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) to hand over the management of the City’s railway system.
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Civil society organisation #UniteBehind launched a court bid at the Western Cape High Court in an effort to compel Prasa to hand over the running and management of the rail system in Cape Town, News24 reports.
In his founding affidavit, co-founder and director Zackie Achmat said that Prasa failed to conclude a Service Level Plan (SLP) with the City, something which is required by virtue of the National Land Transport Act 5 of 2009 (NLTA).
‘That failure has prevented, and continues to prevent, the City from being able to comply with its duties to administer local transport efficiently, effectively, and safely. #UniteBehind has made concerted efforts to engage the respondents on the need to conclude an SLP, but to no avail.’
Achmat adds that the current public transport system, particularly the commuter rail service, is not safe, reliable, affordable, efficient or of sufficient quality. ‘The failure of the state to provide a sufficient public transport system, accordingly, amounts to a violation of working class and disabled people’s constitutional rights to equality, freedom and security, and dignity, among other rights such as, for example, the right to education when students cannot get to their schools.’
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According to #UniteBehind, Prasa’s conduct shows that it is not working in good faith to conclude an SLP. In addition, it says the conduct of Transport Minister Sindiswe Chikunga and Prasa in failing to cooperate with the City is unconstitutional. ‘#UniteBehind and the public have lost faith in both Prasa and Chikunga’s willingness to comply with their obligations to, at the very least, negotiate the terms of a service level plan in good faith so as not to impede the ability of the City of Cape Town to comply with its constitutional mandate in respect of municipal public transport.’
In response, Hill-Lewis has welcomed the court action, stating that Prasa recently did ‘an about-turn and resumed talks with the City after initially refusing to sign a formal service level agreement on the quality and level of passenger rail services they will deliver.
‘It is still within Prasa’s hands to conclude and sign an SLA with us without the need for a court to compel them to do so.’
He adds that the City submitted a detailed draft SLA to Prasa for consideration. ‘Should the litigation proceed, we would welcome the opportunity to air any outstanding issues Prasa may have in concluding an SLA, and we look forward to reviewing the court papers.
‘The overall goal is to get passenger rail devolved for the City to run in the shortest possible time, and we will keep pushing for that devolution to happen.’
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Picture: Metrorail WC / Facebook